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You are here: Home / Publications / The Correspondence of William Stukeley and Maurice Johnson
Volume 104

The Correspondence of William Stukeley and Maurice Johnson

18 October 2014 by

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LRS-Vol-104-cover
This volume brings together the two sides of a correspondence, stretching over forty years, between two remarkable Lincolnshire friends, the antiquaries William Stukeley (1687-1765) and Maurice Johnson (1688-1755). The letters begin when the writers were in their twenties and subsequently cover both Johnson’s work as a lawyer and the development of his cherished Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, and Stukeley’s work as a physician, his ordination in 1729, and his eventual return to London in 1747.
LRS-Vol-104-cover
This volume brings together the two sides of a correspondence, stretching over forty years, between two remarkable Lincolnshire friends, the antiquaries William Stukeley (1687-1765) and Maurice Johnson (1688-1755). The letters begin when the writers were in their twenties and subsequently cover both Johnson’s work as a lawyer and the development of his cherished Spalding Gentlemen’s Society, and Stukeley’s work as a physician, his ordination in 1729, and his eventual return to London in 1747.

The two friends wrote on a wide range of topics, including current affairs, political scandals, financial disasters like the South Sea Bubble and the threat of Jacobite invasions. The letters reflect cultural life: the founding of the British Museum, operatic performances, the activities of the Royal Society and Society of Antiquaries. They portray life in South Lincolnshire: local elections, concerts, race meetings and plays. Local gossip reveals a parade of characters, marrying for love or money, building houses, succeeding or failing in their careers, encountering alarming accidents.

Naturally, these letters illustrate the lives of the two friends, their careers, their concerns over finance, their marriages and children, their friendships, difficulties with neighbours and all the minutiæ of small-town Lincolnshire life. Both men were keen gardeners and we read of the improvements they made to their houses. Johnson described with pride the splendid view from the tower of his house and the activities of the wild-cat kitten which became his pet.

Above all, the two men shared their passion for the study of antiquity and their enthusiasm for spreading knowledge as widely as possible, particularly through the learned societies founded during this period.

Editor — Diana and Michael Honeybone

Publication Date — 2014

Size — 235 x 155 mm

Language — English

Publisher — A Lincoln Record Society publication published by the Boydell Press an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 3DF and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620-2731, USA
Website: www.boydellandbrewer.com

Printed & bound TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall

This publication is printed on acid-free paper

ISBN 978-0- 901503-98-5

Content Contents, 1 page

List of Illustrations, 2 pages

Acknowledgements, 1 page

Abbreviations, 1 page

Introduction, 49 pages

CatalogueFull 7/4/2016

Editorial Conventions, 5 pages

The Correspondence of William Stukeley and Maurice

Johnson 1714-1754, 198 pages

Additional Letters, 17 pages

Appendix 1 Two Dissertations on Lincolnshire Topics by

William Stukeley, 8 pages

Appendix 2 Chronology of the Letters, 4 pages

Appendix 3 Members of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society

Referred to in the Letters, 14 pages

Appendix 4 Contemporary Tributes to Johnson and

Stukeley, 8 pages

Index of People and Places, 7 pages

Index of Subjects, 3 pages
LRS-Vol-104-cover
Purchase from Boydell & Brewer

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Lincoln Record Society is a registered charity, number 513433

Copyright © 2025 Lincoln Record Society

Text, images and copy; copyright Lincoln Record Society 2016

Lincoln Record Society is a registered charity, number 513433